Ghost Stories

The first story I'm posting is about the famous "woman in white"...

Since I was a little girl, I have always known that ghosts and spirits are around us. This particular time was when I was about 12 years old my mother, father, little sister, and I had moved into a new home in august of 1998. It was a brick, ranch style house on a dead end street. The last house actually. As I remember, I didn't feel anything weird or strange in the house at first. It wasn't until months later that I started to realize that something in that house wasn't right.

I think it was the summer of 99 when I had this particular experience. It was late at night maybe early morning and everyone was asleep. It was still very dark outside. My sister and I shared a bedroom and had bunk beds. I was on top and she had the bottom. I have this thing about open doors at night so I like to close my door when I'm going to sleep. So that night, after going to bed and knowing that I CLOSED MY DOOR, I was woken by a LOUD BANG. I sat up like a rocket and looked around the room to see where the noise came from. When I looked over at the door to the hallway I saw that it was WIDE OPEN and swinging slightly like it had just bounced off the wall behind it. It was liked someone punched or kicked the door open!

As I continued to look, I saw the back of someone walking down the hallway away from my room towards the living room. They were short and thin with something white and almost bright on like it had light coming from it but they were walking too fast for me to see exactly. Now, it's late at night and no lights are on in the entire house. I waited a second to see if they would turn on some lights or the TV or make a noise or something because I was thinking it might have been my dad (even though he was at least 6 ft tall and had a beer belly) going to get something to drink from the kitchen or watch some TV. But there was NOTHING. Complete silence. Okay, now I was starting to freak out. Here I am, sitting up in the top bunk of my bed staring out my open door into the dark silent hallway. I was still HOPING it was my dad (my mom had passed a few months before so I knew it could only be him right? And in case anyone is thinking it was my mom, she was a taller heavyset woman so it wasn't her) I was too afraid to say a word because I feared that if it wasn't my dad, whoever it was would hear me and come back down the hallway and into my room. But somehow I worked up the courage for one, good, loud "DAD!"

... And NOTHING... He didn't answer back! Okay, so I KNOW it wasn't him. So then I try to wake my little sister. I shook the bed, and tapped her on the head with my stuffed animals I kept at the foot of my bed. She didn't wake up either... And I was too afraid to get up and close the door in case it heard me moving around and came back. So I threw myself under the covers...shaking, and sweating bullets until I eventually fell asleep.

The next day I asked my dad if he opened our door last night to check on us or something. He said no and that he slept through the entire night. I told him what had happened and he told me I had a bad dream. It wasn't until years later when we both experienced something together that he would tell me about this same "woman" that he would see at night as well (but his experiences were scarier)...and that he was afraid to tell us about it or verify what I was telling him for fear that he would scare us.

This one is a funny story from the Alabama folklore...

Never Mind Them Watermelons

Well now, old Sam Gibb, he didn't believe in ghosts. Not one bit. Everyone in town knew the old log cabin back in the woods was haunted, but Sam Gibb just laughed whenever folks talked about it. Finally, the blacksmith dared Sam Gibb to spend the night in the haunted log cabin. If he stayed there until dawn, the blacksmith would buy him a whole cartload of watermelons. Sam was delighted. Watermelon was Sam's absolute favorite fruit. He accepted the dare at once, packed some matches and his pipe, and went right over to the log cabin to spend the night. Sam went into the old log cabin, started a fire, lit his pipe, and settled into a rickety old chair with yesterday's newspaper. As he was reading, he heard a creaking sound. Looking up, he saw that a gnarled little creature with glowing red eyes had taken the seat beside him. It had a long, forked tail, two horns on its head, claws at the ends of its hands, and sharp teeth that poked right through its large lips. "There ain't nobody here tonight except you and me," the creature said to old Sam Gibb. It had a voice like the hiss of flames. Sam's heart nearly stopped with fright. He leapt to his feet. "There ain't going to be nobody here but you in a minute," Sam Gibb told the gnarled creature. He leapt straight for the nearest exit - which happened to be the window - and hi-tailed it down the lane lickety-split. He ran so fast he overtook two rabbits being chased by a coyote. But it wasn't long before he heard the pounding of little hooves, and the gnarled creature with the red eyes caught up with him. "You're making pretty good speed for an old man," said the creature to old Sam Gibb. "Oh, I can run much faster than this," Sam Gibb told it. He took off like a bolt of lightning, leaving the gnarled creature in the dust. As he ran passed the smithy, the blacksmith came flying out of the forge to see what was wrong. "Never mind about them watermelons," Sam Gibb shouted to the blacksmith without breaking his stride. Old Sam Gibb ran all the way home and hid under his bed for the rest of the night. After that, he was a firm believer in ghosts and spooks, and he refused to go anywhere near the old cabin in the woods.

Albania's Independence Day

On 28 November 1912, now 98 years ago, Albanians gained their independence from the Ottoman Turks who had occupied the country for close to five centuries.
This day is also called the Day of the Flag and it is celebrated by all people of Albanian origin or ethnicity, in and outside the territory of the country of Albania.

A short history leading to the country's independence:

The Illyrians, who are believed to have evolved directly from the Stone Age, occupied the western area of the Balkans, from modern Slovenia to approximately half of the way through modern Greece. Shkodra, now the most important city of northern Albania, was the capital. The Illyrians were sociable and hospitable people, much like Albanians today. They were also daring fighters and known for their bravery in war. Around eight to six century B.C., the neighboring Greeks began to create a string of colonies along the Albanian borders. Closer now to the more advanced Greeks, the Illyrians were greatly influenced and began to evolve politically and economically.Albania was attacked by more foreign powers. The Bulgarians, Norman crusaders, Serbs and Venetians all wreaked havoc on the Albanians until the conquest by the Ottoman Turks in 1388. In 1443, an Albanian military genius, Gjergj Kastrioti(Skanderberg), rallied the Albanians together and drove out the Turks. Although Kastrioti’s death meant the eventual return of the Turks in 1468, the 25 years of resilience gained two accomplishments for the Albanians.The drive for independence was still strong within the Albanians. Throughout the 19th Century, resisting the Turks attempts at assimilation, leaders led their country with the rallying cry,”The religion of Albanians is Albanianism!” The leaders formed the Albanian League in 1878 to unite the country and develop the native language, literature, education and to adopt a new alphabet. In 1908, the Albanians fought again, and by 1912, they succeeded in making the Turks agree to their demands for autonomy.

Our Flag's History:

The Albanian National Flag is black double headed eagle on a dark red background. It is one of the most ancient flags in Europe. It used to be Scanderbeg’s flag under whose leadership Albania fought against the Turks in the 15 century. The symbolism of the bicephalated eagle is that of the religiously divided Albanians, when the Albanians were divided into Christians of the Western Catholic tradition and the Orthodox East. The National Assembly of Vlora which proclaimed Albanian Independence on 28 November 1912 approved the flag as a symbol of the Albanian nation. The horizontal open-winged eagle symbolizes the lack of submission of the highland Albanians to foreign conquest.

Celebrating our independence day:

On the 28th of November the first thing that catches your eyes is the number of flags. You can see them everywhere: hanging on balconies, around corners, people waving flags and even wearing them. The atmosphere is really nice and makes you feel proud you were born in Albania. People usually dine together and go out to celebrate. In Vlora a flag is raised and a speech is held in the same balcony where Ismail Qemali declared our independence. Also, in Tirana, every year a great concert is organized on this day, which is called "The White Night"...

The missing vowels exercise!

Here you are teacher. Hope I haven't made any mistakes ^^.

Researchers say they have identified animal fossils from 270 000 000 years ago in what is now Ethiopia. The remains are from the middle of a time called the “missing years” or the “dark period”. This is because scientists have so little information about the mammals that lived then. The period began 32 million years ago, Africa and Arabia were a single continent, a huge island known as Afro-Arabia. The period ended 24 000 000 years ago after a land bridge formed with Eurasia.

John Kappelman is an anthropologist at the University of Texas in Austin and leader of the American and Ethiopian search team. Mr Kappelman says 8 000 000 years is a long time to lack information about a continent. He says scientist have only been able to guess what happened to African mammals during that period. The remains found in the Chilga area in Ethiopia offer important evidence.

The remains include teeth, skull pieces and other bones. The scientists found them in a farming area about 2000 meters above sea level, on the highlands of Ethiopia. Satellite pictures helped the researchers decide where to dig. The fossils came from about 70 different digs. The magazine Nature published the findings. The scientists say the fossils come from before large numbers of animal began to arrive in Africa from Europe and Asia. The fossils also show that some animals existed millions of years before scientists had thought.

The researchers found several kinds of ancient proboscideans. These are animals with trunks. Modern elephants are proboscideans. Scientists have long thought elephants began in Africa. They say this discovery proves that theory. The ancestors weighed about 1000 kilograms, a lot smaller than African elephants today.

John Kappelman says the elephant ancestors were one of the few African mammals that survived the invasion of mammals from Europe. He says elephant got their start in Africa during the eight-million-year period, and then spread around the world. The researchers also found the remains of an ancient animal with two horns on its head, called the arsinoithere . The scientists were excited because this is the youngest set of such remains yet discovered. The animal is much larger than its ancestors, earlier forms were about the sizes of pigs. But the arsinoithere found at Chilga was about two meters tall and weighed more than two tons.

They were similar to the modern rhinoceros. The two are not related, in fact, scientists thought arsinoitheres had disappeared from the Afro-Arabian continent once rhinos arrived from Eurasia. One researcher says it now appears they did not compete for survival. Scientists say they expect more discoveries to come about the mammals that lived during the so-called missing years.

Summer's Day

Our Summer's Day

Dear Clea,
Summer's Day is the celebration of the day on which the sun shines down on us, when everybody's holding flowers and sweets. Ironically it is celebrated on the 14th of March though...
I'm pretty sure you have never heard about this holiday, just like you haven't heard of the traditional food "ballokume".
Originally the events and festivals of that day only took place in a city near the capital, Elbasan, where people made some delicious type of biscuits called ballokume. This year I went to Elbasan with my cousin's family. Since my aunt is from there, her relatives had prepared fantastic dishes. The streets were unusually crowded and happy faces could be seen everywhere. Some children held roses in their hands, some others played with colourful kites. The sky was ocean blue and in stead of white clouds, all you could see were plenty of huge gas balloons...Me and my cousins played and laughed all the while and took lots of photos, of course the only thing that stopped us was the battery. There were some concerts too, but unfortunately we didn't get to see any because of the complaints of my younger cousin, Ray.
Anyway, I hope you're having as much fun as I am...
Write to me asap.
Kisses, Wendy ♥

A dialogue at a restaurant

red: waiter
blue: susan
green: jessica
black: mike

- Welcome to our restaurant : "Sushi Power"! How many seats do you need madam?
- Oh, thank you. Actually we need three seats...we're expecting someone else.
- Alright then, you can get comfortable over there...Should I bring you the menu?
- Yes, thank you very much....
- Hey, guys, sorry for my lateness! There's terrible traffic outside, you know!
- Don't worry Jess, we came here just 5 minutes ago!
- Great then..Have you given the order yet?
- No, not yet. What are you ordering Sue?
- I think I'm having this fish soup, and umm...onigiri.
- Onigiri? Never heard of that.
- Well, be patient and you'll see it. I'm taking miso ramen.
- And what is that?
- Awesome Japanese noodles with miso...I don't exactly know how to describe it though. And everybody's getting sake, OK?
- Yep!
- Girls, this stuff is so confusing. That's why I'm gonna stick with plain sushi. At least I know what it is.
- Haha, as ignorant as ever!
- Oh shut up, you Japanese freak!
- Stop it you two. I got a big problem here. How am I eating with these chopsticks?
- Don't count on me...
- Well, we can always ask the waiter for a fork. Look, he's coming...
- So are you ready to order?
- Yes......